4 Questions Fundraisers Must Be Prepared to Answer

The gold-lettered Donor Wall of Fame is a cornerstone of philanthropy. To entice donations, fundraisers also will deploy competitions, hierarchies of giving, and naming rights to new buildings and even to entire schools.

But after years of fundraising—and being asked for money himself—Howard H. Stevenson has concluded that public recognition is not the major reason why people make significant gifts. Instead, they want to make a positive impact on the world, said Stevenson, Harvard Business School’s Sarofim-Rock professor of business administration, emeritus.

“I am not the first to observe that it’s easier for most people to make money than it is to give it away,” Stevenson recently told an audience at a Books@Baker event sponsored by Harvard Business School’s Baker Library.